Progression in Narrative

Progression in Narrative

Purpose: The purpose of narrative can be defined simply as to tell a story. However, that does not convey the many purposes of stories and the way that they work at different levels. The purpose of a narrator is to make the listener or reader respond in a particular way. Stories are written or told to entertain and enthral an audience. Stories can make us sad, horrify us, make us laugh, make us excited. They create imaginative worlds that can help us understand ourselves and the things around us and take us beyond our own experience. From the earliest times, stories have been a part of the way that people have explained their world, passed on their beliefs and memories and entertained one another.

Narrative is central to learning, especially for young children who develop their understanding through making up stories about what has happened and what might happen. Children use narrative to organise their ideas, structure their thinking and, ultimately, their writing. Telling and writing stories is not simply a set of skills for children to learn, but an essential means for them to express themselves in creative and imaginative ways.

Generic text structure

This can be expressed simply as:

opening that usually includes a setting and introduces characters
a series of events that build up
complication(s)
resulting events
resolution and ending

Although this structure is evident in many stories, it can be adapted, modified or expanded. Children will hear and read many different stories and will gain an understanding of the ways that authors vary narrative structure, for example; using time shifts or starting the story with an exciting incident and then ‘back-tracking’. They will learn that stories in a particular genre tend to have distinctive structures, e.g. adventure stories often have a series of ‘cliff-hangers’ before the final resolution. Children’s growing awareness of more complex narrative structures in the stories they read or listen to is likely to be ahead of their development as writers. The aim is for them to internalise the basic structure and use it to organise their creative ideas when writing their own, original stories, rather than being constrained by having to imitate a particular style of story.

Language features

These will vary in different narrative genres, but can be summarised as:

can be presented in oral or written form or with images and words on screen
told/ written in first or third person
told/ written in past tense (and occasionally in the present)
chronological
main participants are human or animal with contrasting qualities [‘good’ and ‘bad’]
use of typical characters, settings and events (depending on genre)
connectives that signal time, e.g. early that morning, later on, once
connectives used to shift attention, e.g. meanwhile, at that very moment
connectives used to inject suspense, e.g. suddenly, without warning
connectives to move the setting for episodes, e.g. on the other side of the forest, back at home
dialogue, in differing tenses
verbs used to describe actions, thoughts and feelings
language effects used to create impact on reader, e.g. adverbs, adjectives, precise nouns, expressive verbs, metaphors, similes etc.

Knowledge for the writer:

decide the intended impact of the story on the reader
plan before writing, be sure of key events and ensure that all the events lead towards the ending
tell and re-tell the story orally before writing and rehearse sentences orally whilst writing
try to visualise the story whilst writing
plan a limited number of characters and describe a few key details that show something about their personalities
try to show rather than tell, for example, show how a character feels by what they say or do
use all the senses when imagining and then describing the setting, for example, include the weather, season, time of day
make use of ideas from reading, for example, using a question to draw the reader in or using repetition to create an effect
at the end, show how the main character has changed as a result of the narrative
reread the completed story aloud, for example, to a small group

Progression is achieved through:

reading and listening to a wide range of stories
storytelling
oral rehearsal before writing
teacher modelling and scribing preceding children’s independent attempts
at different points in the composing, reading the writing aloud to a partner and revising it on the basis of having read it aloud
increased understanding by the children of particular aspects of narrative, for example, characterisation and dialogue, and control of the form, for example, writing sustained narratives divided into chapters or using techniques to engage the reader
increased independence in children’s ability to plan and write their own stories

Links to key aspects of learning

Units of work on narrative will involve children in using elements from many of the cross curricular, key aspects of learning explored in Learning and Teaching in the Primary Years - creative thinking, communication, empathy, enquiry , evaluation, information processing, managing feelings, motivation, problem solving, reasoning, self awareness and social skills. In listening to, speaking, reading and writing narrative children will particularly use

self-awareness

Example FS: listen to stories being read and talk about likes and dislikes

empathy

Example Y5 Look for evidence of characters changing during a story and discuss possible reasons, e.g. in response to particular experiences or over time

creative thinking

Example Y3 explore relationships and situations through drama

evaluation

Example Y1 Listen with sustained concentration and then talk about how the author created interest or excitement in the story

Cross curricular links

Across the age phases manyopportunities for reading and writing narrative occur in all other of areas of the curriculum. For example, History and Geography provide plots and settings. Songs, programme music, ballet, opera and oratorio tell stories. Paintings show settings, portray character and even the plot. Examples from the National Curriculum programmes of study/stepping stones that could be linked to narrative texts in literacy include:

history/ knowledge and understanding of the world (FS)

FS: past and present events … in the lives of people

KS1 POS: the way of life of people in the more distant past

KS2 POS: the study of… Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings ,Tudors, Victorian Britain or Britain since the 1930s

geography/ knowledge and understanding of the world (FS)

FS stepping stone; show an interest in the world in which they live

KS1/2 POS: localities

Children with Special Educational Needs and/ or Learning Difficulties/ Disabilities

Learning objectives should be chosen which are related to the aspect on which the whole class is working. If with appropriate access strategies and support a child can not work towards the same learning objective as the rest of the class, teachers may want to track back to an earlier objective. The structure and the new electronic format of the renewed frameworks for literacy and mathematics support multi-level curriculum planning, and allow teachers to easily track back through a progression strand to locate earlier learning objectives. It also makes direct links to a wealth of other useful materials which will help to plan teaching and children’s learning. Further guidance and principles on tracking back can be found in:

Including all children in the literacy hour and daily mathematics lesson: management guide Ref: DfES 0465/.

Further useful references for children working significantly below age related expectations can be found in the QCA/DfES documents Planning, teaching and assessing the curriculum for pupils with learning difficulties (QCA/01/736 and the QCA DVD 'Usingthe P scales' QCA/05/1589.

Planning for individual children or groups of children based on assessment for learning will be informed by knowledge of their priorities. For the majority of the time it will be appropriate for children to work on objectives that are similar and related to the whole class. However, at other times you will also have to consider whether the children have other priority needs that are central to their learning, for example a need to concentrate on some key skills.

For further guidance on planning for children with SEN/LDD see the library section and

Learning and teaching for children with special educational needs in the primary years ref 0302/2004 G

Teaching the literacy hour and daily mathematics lesson in special settings.

Teaching the daily mathematics lesson for children with severe or profound and multiple learning difficulties ( 0033/2003)

Children who are gifted and talented

Children who are working well above the overall level of their class or group will benefit from planning that may:

add breadth (for example enrichment through a broader range of content, tasks and resources)
increase depth (for example extension through complexity)
accelerate the pace of learning by tracking forward to later objectives within or across key stages

The structure and the new electronic format of the renewed framework for literacy and mathematics support multi-level curriculum planning, and allow teachers to easily track forward through a progression strand to locate later learning objectives. It also makes direct links to a wealth of other useful materials which will help to plan teaching and children’s learning.

For further guidance on planning for gifted and talented children see the library section and

Children learning English as an additional language (EAL)

Children learning EAL must be supported to access curriculum content while also developing cognitive and academic language within whole-class, group and independent contexts. With the exception of children learning EAL who also have SEN, it is critical to maintain a level of cognitive challenge which is consistent with that of the rest of the class. Children who are /have become conversationally fluent will continue to require explicit attention to the development of the academic language associated with the subject and of specific aspects within the subject.Planning should identify the language demands of the objectives and associated activities and making sure EAL learners know and can use the language demanded by the curriculum content of the unit/lesson then becomes an additional objective. In order to identify the language demands, teachers and practitioners should consider the language children will need to understand in order to access this activity, and the language they will need to be able to produce, either oral or written, in order to demonstrate success in achieving the learning intentions.

For further guidance on planning for children learning EAL see the overview of planning for each year group, the library section and also Learning and teaching for bilingual children in the primary years: Unit 1 Planning and Assessment for Language and Learning and Unit 2: Creating the Learning Culture, Making it work in the classroom.

Primary Framework for literacy and mathematics

Progression in narrative

Strands 2, 5, 6 & 7 Listening to and reading a range of stories on page and screen which provoke different responses:

Story structure

Viewpoint: author; narrator

Characterdialogue

Setting

/ Strands 1, 8 – 11 Creating stories orally, on page and screen, that will impact on listeners and readers in a range of ways:

Telling stories

Writing

F/S

Listen to stories being told and read. Know when a story has begun and ended. Recognise simple repeatable story structures and some typical story language, for example, ‘Once upon a time…’
Be aware that books have authors; someone is telling the story.
Stories are about characters; identify and describe their appearance referring to names and illustrations; notice when characters are speaking in the story by joining in, e.g. with a repeated phrase.
Stories happen in a particular place; identify settings by referring to illustrations and descriptions.

Turn stories into play using puppets, toys, costumes and props; imagine and re-create roles; re-tell narratives using patterns from listening and reading; tell a story about a central character; experiment with story language by using familiar words and phrases from stories in re-telling and play.
Attempt own writing for various purposes, using features of different forms, including stories.

Year
1 /

Identify the beginning, middle and end in stories and use familiarity with this structure to make predictions about story endings; recall the main events.
Listen with sustained concentration and then talk about how the author created interest or excitement in the story; the ‘voice’ telling the story is called the narrator.
Recognise main characters and typical characteristics, for example, good and bad characters in traditional tales; identify the goal or motive of the main character and talk about how it moves the plot on; notice how dialogue is presented in text and begin to use different voices for particular characters when reading dialogue aloud.
Settings can be familiar or unfamiliar and based on real-life or fantasy. Respond by making links with own experience and identify ‘story language’ used to describe imaginary settings.

Re-tell familiar stories and recount events; include main events in sequence, focusing on who is in the event, where events take place and what happens in each event; use story language, sentence patterns and sequencing words to organise events, (e.g.)then, next etc.; recite stories, supported by story boxes, pictures etc.; act out stories and portray characters and their motives.
Use patterns and language from familiar stories in own writing; write complete stories with a simple structure: beginning – middle – end, decide where it is set and use ideas from reading for some incidents and events.

Year
2 /

Identify the sequence: opening – something happens – events to sort it out – ending; identify temporal connectives and talk about how they are used to signal the passing of time; make deductions about why events take place in a particular order by looking at characters’ actions and their consequences.
Begin to understand elements of an author’s style, e.g. books about the same character or common themes;
Understand that we know what characters are like from what they do and say as well as their appearance; make predictions about how they might behave; notice that characters can change during the course of the story; the way that characters speak reflects their personality; the verbs used for dialogue tell us how a character is feeling, e.g. sighed, shouted, joked.
Settings are created using descriptive words and phrases; particular types of story can have typical settings – use this experience to predict the events of a story based on the setting described in the story opening.

Re-tell familiar stories using narrative structure and dialogue from the text; include relevant details and sustain the listener’s interest; tell own real and imagined stories; explore characters’ feelings and situations using improvisation; dramatise parts of own or familiar stories and perform to class or group.
Imitate familiar stories by borrowing and adapting structures; write complete stories with a sustained, logical sequence of events; use past tense and 3rd person consistently; include setting; create characters, e.g. by adapting ideas about typical story characters; include some dialogue; use phrases drawn from story language to add interest, (e.g.)she couldn’t believe her eyes.

Year
3 /

Consolidate understanding of sequential story structure: identify common, formal elements in story openings and endings and typical features of particular types of story; notice common themes, similar key incidents and typical phrases or expressions. Note the use of language or music or camera angle to set scenes, build tension, create suspense.
Recognise that authors make decisions about how the plot will develop and use different techniques to provoke readers’ reactions; notice the difference between 1st and 3rd person accounts; take part in dramatised readings using different voices for the narrator and main characters.
Identify examples of a character telling the story in the 1st person; make deductions about characters’ feelings, behaviour and relationships based on descriptions and their actions in the story; identify examples of stereotypical characters; make judgements about a character’s actions, demonstrating empathy or offering alternative solutions to a problem; analyse the way that the main character(s) usually talks andlook for evidence of the relationship between characters based on dialogue.

Settings are used to create atmosphere; look at examples of scene changes that move the plot on, relieve or build up the tension.

Tell stories based on own experience and oral versions of familiar stories; include dialogue to set the scene and present characters; vary voice and intonation to create effects and sustain interest; sequence events clearly and have a definite ending; explore relationships and situations through drama.
Write complete stories with a full sequence of events in narrative order; include a dilemma or conflict and resolution; write an opening paragraph and further paragraphs for each stage of the story; use either 1st or 3rd person consistently; use conventions for written dialogue and include some dialogue that shows the relationship between two characters.